Captain Kangaroo

To an educated UNC fan, it would be "no biggie." Losses to teams like VCU, Saint Mary's, Wichita State and Northern Iowa are now considered "no biggie" because those programs have risen above the din of mid-major status and become "majors" (not "high majors", but "majors", where "majors" is defined as having a realistic chance at an at-large if you lose your conference tourney). The Zips still reside in the mid-major abyss. Slightly worse than Valpo or Middle Tennessee... slightly better than Detroit or Southern Illinois. maybe the same as someone like Oakland.

I saw when Northern Iowa beat the Tar Heels earlier this year it pretty much ruined UNC's storied program.

I wonder if, when someone from Akron called Hunter Yurachek at Houston to ask him "Could you do me a solid and schedule the Zips in basketball?" he replied: "Remember when I was Interim AD and you guys chose Tome Wistercill over me? I do...and F U." Hunter is too nice of a guy to say that...but not too nice of a guy to think it. I'm sure doing UA Athletics favors is not on the top of his daily to-do list. Regarding Louisville - Scheduling a major program to play the Zips at The Q would be a big "splash" promotion for the program. You might say its "Thinking Bigger." But it would require a lot of work, and I think it's just easier for UA to get a home game with Bethune-Cookman and call it a day. And let's be honest...Louisville would kill us. At this point I think we need appreciate being - The Best Ohio College Basketball Program Not Named Dayton, Xavier, Cincinnati or Ohio State™. That's not so bad. There's 8 other D1 programs that would kill for that title.

Because the New York/Philly area doesn't have a whole lot of basketball talent? Seriously - Congrats to Jeff. He was always a class act during his UA tenure, and very helpful to the content of ZipsNation. Good to see good things happen to good people.

Before we hold any ticker-tape parades....he's missed the entire 2010, 2012 and 2015 seasons due to catastrophic injuries. Like everyone else, I'm hoping this 7th year senior has an all-MAC season....but Lazarus' storied comeback was against lesser odds.

One less player to worry about on October 8th.

It would be a coup to get this former Zip to make an appearance.

The guy can't catch a break...unless it's a bone.

If the sold beer at the JAR, it would help me digest the early-season cupcakes. That would be a nice improvement, and the University would make money rather than lose it. I liked having a Blue Moon at Ohio State's arena while watching the Zips.

I thought the Falcons in the endzone looked pretty cool!

He hasn't graduated high school yet and we're already worried about him transferring from Akron? Bowden beat/out-recruited Florida Atlantic, who pushed extremely hard for Kato's services. Per newspaper reports, Kato's immediate family wanted him to attend FAU, yet he still chose the Zips. I'm not worried about him transferring.

I agree. If Kato can redshirt, he'll be the #2 guy for Woody's senior season. Then it's his show to run for 3 full years. That's as good a scenario as any HS QB can expect to walk into.

And they should pick Syracuse or Michigan over the Zips. They are WAY better programs. Look at Syracuse in the Final Four...the Zips can't beat IUPUI or UWGB...so who honestly merits an at-large? Michigan would beat the 2015-16 Zips 19 out of 20 times. Win games that matter. Get to the level of Wichita State or Northern Iowa. That has worth. If you can't get to that level (due to facilities, conference strength, whatever...), win your conference tourney.

Everyone knows RPI means nothing. To get into the at-large conversation you need to beat upper-echelon Power 5 teams. And then, avoid any embarrassing losses. That's it. Done. A secondary option is to win 30 games. Something like 30-3, with a loss in your conference Championship, gets you in the at-large conversation. So, schedule a bunch of cupcakes, don't screw up in your conference season, and maybe some USA Today blogger will take up your cause and write a nice column about how you were snubbed. A third option, completely out of the Zips control, is that the MAC as a whole ascends to a higher basketball level. With a couple juggernaut teams like the MVC has in Northern Iowa and Wichita State. Then you're in the conversation. But even then, you can get "Saint Mary'd" and miss the tourney. We haven't won an NCAA tournament game of any kind since 2007, and we've have numerous opportunities against "meh" competition (UMass, Northwestern, ND, Ohio State-lite, IUPUI, UWGB, etc), so the "we got snubbed" cries ring pretty hollow to me. We just aren't good enough to merit consideration. We need to win our Tournament. Simple as that.

Because it is a decent-size tournament we could actually expect to win? And Savannah is a great warm weather destination that's a cheap flight from CAK?

Why wouldn't they just play cupcakes at home and keep all the money? Why pay hotel & food expenses, play weak competition, with zero TV coverage... all for zero profit? What AD thinks that's a good idea? Unless upper-tier P5 teams get home games (i.e. preseason NIT), or get to travel to sexy, recruit-luring places (i.e. Hawai'i or Puerto Rico) early-season tourneys aren't smart.

Ohio Tech vs. Georgia Tech? I bet that one would be a sell out.

http://www.cleveland.com/sports/college/index.ssf/2016/03/akron_zips_41.html

Needs to be better. Ohio State, Xavier, Dayton and Cincinnati compete with Akron for recruits like I compete with George Clooney for arm candy. Because losing to the Zips is not be considered a "bad loss." Because the Zips are a good gauge of where you stand on the mid-major scale. Because, for numerous top mid-majors mentioned (let's consider the Zips a "Top mid-major"), its a cheap bus-ride travel game. Because they'd get a home-home with an attractive opponent. Because they aren't getting an NCAA at-large unless they win 30 games against quality OOC opponents anyhow. But you can pick up the phone and call them, instead of Bethune Cookman.

Some final, random thoughts on the game... There will never be a bigger opportunity lost for the Zips to beat Ohio State in basketball. The Ohio State team I saw on Tuesday night was essentially Ohio U masquerading in Ohio State uniforms. In the MAC, that team would be 10-6. Maybe worse. I do believe the dead-legs excuse. I never saw 3-point shots careen off the backboard like I saw towards the end of that game. From guys like Antino and Josh, who are typically solid. The 4-games in 6 days...with all being do-or-die tourney games, and 4th going to OT was just too much. In hindsight I'm sure Dambrot wishes he'd have played Jimmond a little more, and rested McAdams. Buy I admire that he went with his seniors to win or lose the game. He didn't do that at the end of the Buffalo game (sitting McAdams for the final possession), and I bet it's a regret. And before anyone writes a sappy "please get of KD's back" post - if you ever were a successful head coach at any level, then you've coached in Championship games against good coaches and great talent. Those games are always dogfights. And you make calls that you, in hindsight, regret...but you make them and live with them. And if people question them...so what...it's part of the deal when you're a coach. The Zips had at least 12 opportunities to put pressure on OSU with a back-breaking 3-pointer, and came up empty every time. The Zips team I saw the bulk of 2015-16 should have won this game by 15+ points...but it didn't happen. The OSU fans were nice. I wanted to hate them, but they were all very respectful. The cheerleaders from both programs performed together at one point, and the arena even played the Akron fight song over the PA system during a break. That's unheard of in any road game, let alone a tightly-contested tournament game. Referees did a nice job. Absolutely no homer element. If those guys ref'd the MAC finals, we'd have won the game. No way Buffalo would have only 1 foul whistled in the first 17 minutes of the 2nd half. Big Dog has developed into a Big 10 talent. OSU really had no answer for him. I think he fouled 2 guys out? His free throw misses were brutal. But you can't knock a guy when he puts forth an effort like we've seen from him over the entire season. Zeke came to UA with the accolades, and had a very nice career. But a dominant senior season puts Big Dog as UA's #1 all-time best center. Who'da thunk that last season? Kwan had some big blocks. He's a good at-the-rim defender, but he's not a good on-ball defender. Especially so the further away he gets from the hoop. It will be interesting to see how he works on his game over the off season. We really need the redshirted kids to step up and contribute in 2016-17. There are plenty of game-minutes to be had for the kids that put in the most work this off-season. The coaches need to re-evaluate themselves, and the program too. What can be done differently to better prepare the Zips for post-season success? The scheduling mindset of the past decade appears to be in obvious need of re-evaluation. Is it better to play a freshman with upside than upper-classmen who may have maxed-out? Who redshirts? Who leaves? I don't have much more to offer that already hasn't been said. It was a fun ride, but an all-too abrupt stop. See you at InfoCision.

Rats...had my fingers crossed for the Jimmond dunk!

Please keep on-topic.

Travis...Joyce...Wood...those 26-win guys never got a shot at redemption after their MAC Finals loss. Kwan's certainly got his shot at redemption tonight. As an athlete coming off a loss and a poor performance, that's all you can ask.

Time for the Zips to put-up-or-shut-up. If we really deserved to be in the tournament...if that 28 RPI meant anything...the Zips need to win tonight. Three straight games in Cleveland = no "big arena" excuses. Hell...Reggie played at the OSU arena in high school. Kent has had two, 3-deep NIT runs. Ball State went 4-deep in the NIT a while back. It's time for the Zips to win some post season games for the first time since Nick Dials donned the Blue and Gold!